Had a great time at the CCB breakfast this morning. Drive down was great and no issues. Decided I would take the long route home and check out the area (turns out...good move). Got about half way home and heard bad noise from drivers side. Creeped it for quite some time to a Mazda dealership in Longmont and called my wife. She came and go me and we headed back down with the trailer. She truly is the greatest wife ever ! Phone conversation...Hey babe...how are you...good...I need a ride home...where are you...I'll be there in a few !

With that being said, got it home and pulled the drum and hub cover off. No damage there, but he hub turns with some not so great noises.

Now I need some help. My books are horrible, so any direction, diagrams, or help for taking the hub assembly off would be great. Apparently my search skills are sub par and I didn't find the instructions. I'm sure they are there, and I'm the weak link !

Here are a couple of pics I took on the way home and one my wife thought we should take after all loaded up ! Start of the great drive home, realization of something failing, and hitching a ride home.... !

Thanks in advance for all the help!

Matt

Matt, pulling that hub off is pretty darn quick when you know where to look. On the end of the axle shaft inside that hub, you should see a small C clip that holds the actual locking assembly in there. Knock that puppy off. Now, on the hub itself, running around the outside, you should see another C clip. Use a flat tip screwdriver and remove that. Now have fun pulling out all the guts of the locking hub. Once you get the guts out, you're going to need the hub spanner wrench. You have one of those right? I'm guessing not. Head down to Advance Auto and rent one. Probably worth buying one if you think you might be doing this again some time soon. Like to the other side. Slide that puppy in to that hub and seat it on those notches on the spindle nut, I think it is called. If'n you don't know what I am talking about, it is a round washer looking thing inside the hub with notches on it. Underneath that nut is a lock ring. A thin washer like piece with holes all around it. Slides right out, no lefty or righty. Underneath the lock ring is another spindle nut, this one with a tit on it, to engage the locking ring. Same thing, hub spanner wrench on it. Once that last nut comes off, you should be able to pull the whole hub.

This just goes to show I need to take more time AND take pics next time I do a brake job.

You said tit.

On a great day like today.... NO one was supposed to go home wounded!! Sorry to hear that

On a lighter note, I vote the last picture into next years calendar!!

Seconded!

Frank...you are the man and a life saver ! Your quick instructions were awesome. That needs to be saved for a short tech tip. You nailed it on the head. My C-clip had the gap covered and it was dark last night so couldn't see it. Thank you sir!

On to the problem....Bad bearing (see pic). Notice the bent bearing slots/prong/things. Not too big of a deal, but the race was pretty much welded/stuck to the shaft???. Not sure how you guys get these off normally, or if they are supposed to slide off with some minor manipulation. I ended up getting a clamp type bearing puller and using a 2 prong jaw to get it off. I couldn't believe the force required to get it out. It actually dented/dimpled the 1/4" plate I was using as the jacking point/backing plate.

None the less....all is good to go and fixed !

Thanks again for the help!

Matt

Glad my quick down and dirty, laymen terms advice helped out.

I'll be doing a brake job on the '72 in the next few weeks. I'll be sure to snap some pics of all the crucial stuff.

Bummer Lobo,
Had I known you were going to break down I would have followed you. You broke down pretty close to mi casa. Sounds like the fix will go well. Lemme know if you need some brute strength...I may know some people....

Thanks Gregg...

Great to meet you! Definitely have to get together.

Thought about you, but it was close enough for Leah to come and get me and grab it with the truck and trailer. Got it fixed (something about not loosing to a bearing and wanting to know what the problem was...he he), and now have a couple of handy tools and ideas to get a stuck bearing race off :)!

On that note...Mazda dealership was quite nice to let me leave it there, but they are weird and for the life of me can't figure out how they could possible survive!

Matt